Many of you have been using Twitter to keep new listings, or other bits of information flowing to your "followers".You may have noticed more and more tweets, topics, and trends labeled with the word "promoted".This is Twitter's new advertising platform, Promoted Tweets, which was introduced in 2010, but really didn't get moving until this year.

Promoted Tweets are regular tweets, but advertisers pay to have them reach a wider group of users.The Promoted Tweets are attached to key words and are offered on a pay-per-engagement rate.The client only pays when Promoted Tweets are re-tweeted, replied to, clicked on, or are selected as a "favorite".This method of advertising is more likely to get your tweet to the right people because the tweet is seen by those who are actively searching out the key words.

Early users of Promoted Tweets have been big brands such as Red Bull, and Virgin America.They reported great success with their ROI.For instance, according to Adweek.com, the day that Virgin America's Promoted Tweets went live, the airline recorded its fifth-highest sales day in its history.Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone, explained the basics of Promoted Tweets on CBSNews.

Online Marketing Trends states that there are more than 106 million accounts on Twitter and Twitter users send more than 55 million tweets per day.Twitter's search engine gets 600 million queries per day.

Log into Twitter and search for "real estate - your city".Interesting list - did your last business tweet show up on the list?If you had a Promoted Tweet, your tweet would show up at the top of the list every time that someone did the same search or used similar key words.

Twitter users tend to check Twitter for information they want NOW.They are drawn to businesses that are actively sharing up-to-the-moment news and updates. Wouldn't it be effective to have your tweet show up on top of the list when a potential buyer searched Twitter to see what's new in localrealestate?It would be especially effective if your tweet included a link back to your website or your listings on Facebook, etc.

I did several Twitter searches for real estate in different cities before writing this blog.Each time a list of tweets from various agents showed up, but in my random search, I did not find one Promoted Tweet.This advertising avenue is wide open for agents!

What are your thoughts?Does it make sense to grab the real estate key words now and be the first on top of the list in your area?I'm interested in your comments and thoughts regarding Promoted Tweets.

The virtual assistants at Best Agent Business maintain Twitter accounts for many agents.Whether you would like more information regarding Twitter, other social media, or the many other services offered to real estate agents, schedule a call with Steve Kantor, President of Best Agent Business, today.